Not much to look for as Pats open preseason

Friday

Aug 10, 2007 at 12:10 AM

No matter how lame your Friday night plans are this week, the Patriots have it worse.

No matter how lame your Friday night plans are this week, the Patriots have it worse.

Kicking off four weeks of meaningless football with a trip to Tampa — in August — is no one's idea of a good time. And unlike you, the Pats can't change the channel when tonight's 7:30 game against the Buccaneers gets boring (somewhere around 7:36 p.m).

Any potential excitement was robbed by the as-yet-unexplained injury that's kept wide receiver Randy Moss out of practice for more than a week now. Moss could have made his preseason debut with the Pats, but he's expected to be held out of this one.

With the absence of Moss and a Physically Unable to Perform list that includes Richard Seymour, Troy Brown, Chad Jackson and David Thomas, the Pats will get a chance to evaluate other players looking for roster spots.

"Any time there are fewer players at a position, that gives other players more playing time and more opportunity," head coach Bill Belichick said. "That would be true at every position. Sometimes that's an opening for a guy to show up positively and create something for himself."

That means wideouts Jabar Gaffney and Reche Caldwell —thought to be refuse after the Patriots receiver acquisition bonanza this spring — will be among the players with a chance to show their stuff. While Tom Brady has struggled to find rhythm the new guys, Caldwell and Gaffney have shown in practice that still have the connection they made with the passer late last season.

"Hopefully everyone who can play will get an opportunity to play," Belichick said. "I'd like to see everybody get some action this week. We'll just have to see how that goes here in the next couple of days, who all that really is and how it shakes out."

Perhaps the most intriguing group to watch will be the defensive backs. With Asante Samuel still holding out, Pats coaches will have to learn where to use rookie Brandon Meriweather — be it corner, safety or bench — and figure out roles for a handful of secondary players, particularly who will man the corner position opposite Ellis Hobbs.

Belichick said the Patriots go into this game preparing for what they do, instead of developing a game plan for the Bucs.

"The things that we've practiced and we've worked the most on, I'd like to see how we execute those against somebody else," Belichick said. "I'm sure there will be some things that will come up in the game that we really haven't spent a lot of time on that will be kind of new game type of situations and we'll have to teach and coach off of those. I would imagine that we probably wouldn't do those things as well, but I'd like to think that the things that we've practiced, we would be able to go out and execute it at a competitive level in this game, but we'll see."

Tampa temperatures are expected to reach the mid-90s with humidity at about 68 percent, but one thing that's cooled off the Bay area is the battle for the Bucs' starting quarterback job. Incumbent Chris Simms was supposed to battle incoming free agent Jeff Garcia, but Simms isn't healthy.

Garcia rejuvenated his career last season filling in for an injured Donovan McNabb in Philadelphia. Garcia got married during the offseason, and wasn't allowed to go on a honeymoon, because Bucs coach Jon Gruden needed him to the learn the offense.

Simms entered into a less fortunate union with the Panthers' defense last September and wasn't allowed to have a spleen anymore, because it was ruptured. He hasn't played since and isn't taking reps in practice as he's trying to regain his strength.

The Patriots quarterback situation is even less interesting. The top two positions already belong to Brady and Matt Cassel, respectively. Rookie Matt Gutierrez will get playing time tonight, but he's not expected to take the No. 3 job from Belichick fave Vinny Testaverde, who is supposed to join the team after training camp.

That said, Gutierrez, fresh off the potato truck from Idaho State, has impressed the coaching staff with his work ethic. Usually one of the first players on the practice field and among the last to leave, Gutierrez will probably stick around as a practice squad player.

"I would say that Matt has progressed hard," Belichick said. "I've been very impressed with his work ethic (and) his learning the system. He hasn't gotten a whole lot of opportunities out there, but the ones that he's had he's done all right with. He has a long way to go. He has a lot to learn, but, he works hard at it and I respect that."